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My odd - but generous - nextdoor neighbor has just lent me (as in, I don't think he ever plans to use it again and it wouldn't surprise me if it remains in my possession for as long as I live here... possibly longer) an airbrush and compressor thing. Specifically, a Central Pneumatic Professional Airbrush (here).

This is pretty neat.

I'm not looking to do anything fancy (at least at first...). If I can start using this thing to lay down basecoats more quickly (ie. putting a layer of Bleached Bone over white primer), I'll be a happy man.

What I want to know is where do I get started with this thing? I don't know the first thing about airbrushes.

All your wisdom will be received gratefully.

That looks like a nice starter kit.
It has a bottle-feed for large areas, and a sort of side feed cup for small amounts.
The brush may not be a dual-action, so gradual spray will be difficult.
There's no pipette in the picture, so transfering paint from a mix-jar to the brush might be awkward. Get a straw.

To pactice, I'd mix up some watered-down some paint in the bottle, and use the side cup, and play about with it.
Go for an even coverage, and move onto pulling the brush off the page as you sweep across it. You'll get an idea of the spray size at certain distances.

Also, learn how to clean it. There's a thread here at the moment talking about that.

Basically, it looks a good kit, but you might want to get hold of a dual-action, gravity feed brush soon.

Yeah, for actual painting, you'll be wanting a gravity feed brush - they're more efficient in terms of what paint you need to put in and clean out.

BUT, you will LOVE what you have for priming and varnishing. Get hold of Vallejo's PU primers (whatever colours), and never buy another can of Chaos Black. Or Putridy Seal.

That was my first airbrush too and I think it’s sweet for the price! It is a double action and has no problem taking solvents or thicker paint. And if you break it you can just buy another one (there only 15 bucks). It’s a pain in the butt to change colors though. http://www.howtoairbrush.com/ has a lot of great lessons to get you started. I went to Michael’s and got some airbrush paint and a big spiral art book for like 10 bucks and did the lessons. I think it made me a much better painter. As far as minis go I use ether tester’s model master acrylic grey primer or Vallejo grey primer (you don’t have to thin them down ether). For Citadel paint you need to thin it 1:1 or about the consistency of milk. When I’m done painting for the day, I take it apart and throw it into a jewelry cleaner I found at a garage sale and put it back together. good luck!